Worst case scenario as Celtics lose Game 4 to Knicks 121-113, Jayson Tatum leaves game

In a must win Game 4 on the road, the Celtics needed to rise to the challenge. They were not able to as they lost to the Knicks 121-113, giving New York a 3-1 series lead.

Jayson Tatum did everything he could for Boston as he led the way for the Celtics with 42 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists on 16-28 shooting from the field and 7-16 shooting from three but it wasn’t enough as he went down with a severe injury at the end of the fourth quarter.

Jalen Brunson led the way for the Knicks with 39 points, 12 assists, and 5 rebounds on 14-25 shooting and 4-8 from three while Mikal Bridges, Karl-Anthony Towns, and OG Anunoby all scored 20+ points as well.

With the Celtics going down 3-1 and Jayson Tatum’s status unknown moving forward, their season might be over.

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The Celtics hot three-point shooting carried over to begin Game 4 as Derrick White started the game shooting 3-3 from beyond the arc and Boston opened up a 13-4 run in the first 3 and a half minutes courtesy of a Jayson Tatum coast-to-coast layup.

The Knicks responded to this hot start from Boston with a 10-3 of their own that forced Joe Mazzulla to call a timeout. OG Anunoby hit a three out of the timeout to give New York the lead but it didn’t last long as Derrick White hit his fourth three of the first quarter. Jaylen Brown committed his second offense foul of the first quarter with 3:20 to go and the Knicks were able to tie the game again on a Jalen Brunson floater and take the lead on a Mitchell Robinson alley-oop dunk.

The lead went back and forth in the last two minutes of the quarter, but it was Jayson Tatum that scored 11 points to end the quarter in the midst of a 16-4 Boston run that gave the Celtics a 39-28 lead after the first quarter.

Tatum scored 15 points on 6-8 shooting from the field and 3-5 shooting from three to lead the Celtics while White had 14 points on 4-4 shooting from three right behind him. The Celtics shot 13-19 (68%) from the field and 9-14 (64%) from three in the first quarter while the Knicks shot 12-23 (52%) from the field and 4-10 (40%) from three.

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The second quarter began with a Knicks injury report saying OG Anunoby hurt his hamstring, but that didn’t stop New York as they scored 7 straight points to open the quarter. The Celtics had a tough time stopping the Knicks double big lineup of KAT and Robinson as their paint defense and rebounding were lacking.

After getting elbowed in the face, Al Horford scored the Celtics first basket of the quarter on a three and Payton Pritchard made a smooth move for a layup, continuing his stellar play from Game 3. A Kristaps Porzingis put back dunk opened up a 9-0 run for Boston, forcing New York to call a timeout.

Out of the timeout, the Knicks caught fire as Mikal Bridges scored four points and Deuce McBride hit a three that caused the Celtics to call a timeout quickly. Karl-Anthony Towns made a layup after a Brown missed three, but Jayson Tatum came back into the game and immediately hit a three in response.

Towns picked up his third foul with five minutes to go in the first half and Jaylen Brown started to make his mark after a slow start. He hit a corner three off of a nice play by Jrue Holiday and got to free throw line on the play after. New York had a ton of opportunities coming off of a bunch of offensive rebounds from Mitchell Robinson but couldn’t cut into Boston’s lead as the Celtics took a 62-51 lead going into halftime.

Tatum finished a huge first half performance with 20 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks on 8-13 shooting from the field and 4-7 shooting from three. Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 13 points on 4-8 shooting. Boston’s shooting was the difference maker in the first half as they shot 20-37 (54%) overall and 12-24 (50%) from three. The Celtics were also leading in the free throw battle as they shot 15 free throws but only hit 10 while the Knicks only shot 4. New York did have the advantage in the offensive rebounds department however as they had 8 in the first half that generated to 11 second chance points.

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Both teams began the second half trading baskets, but the Celtics rattled off an 8-2 run and a Jayson Tatum steal led to a Derrick White corner three that gave the Celtics their biggest lead of the night at 14 points and forced a Knicks timeout.

Brunson came out of the timeout scoring 7 straight points for New York including Jaylen Brown committing a flagrant foul on a close out three while Bridges hit a fadeaway jumper to give the Knicks a 9-0 run. Derrick White answered with his sixth three of the night and a Jayson Tatum had a slam coming off his third steal of the night, but back-to-back layups by Brunson and KAT forced a Celtics timeout after the Knicks cut the lead to 6 points.

Both teams traded baskets out of the timeout as Brunson and Tatum went back and forth. Brown picked up his fourth foul on a very questionable call and the Celtics lack of rebounding led to Brunson hitting another fadeaway that cut Boston’s lead to only 2 points. After a Celtics timeout, Brunson hit another shot to tie the game as Boston’s offense went cold.

Tatum hit two free throws in response, but Anunoby hit a three to give the Knicks the lead again and a Josh Hart layup gave New York an 88-85 lead after three quarters. Brunson and Tatum are leading both teams with 31 points but Boston blowing a 14-point lead in the third quarter was not an ideal situation.

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Both teams opened up the fourth quarter exchanging baskets, but Josh Hart picked up his fifth foul with 10:23 to go in the quarter and Jaylen Brown picked up his fifth foul with 10:16 left in the quarter. After Bridges scored his sixth point of the quarter, Jayson Tatum tied the game again with his sixth three of the game with 8:22 remaining.

Robinson responded with an alley-oop layup, but Tatum hit another three to give the Celtics the lead again with 7:17 left. Bridges responded with another midrange jumper and Anunoby made a layup to make it a three-point game again as the Celtics called a timeout with 6:32 to go. Out of the timeout, Tatum hit an and-1 layup to tie the game again, but Anunoby hit another three in response.

Holiday and Brunson traded layups with five minutes to go but Porzingis missed two free throws in response which led to Brunson making another fadeaway jumper to give the Knicks a 5 point lead with under four minutes to go and Bridges hitting another fadeaway jumper to make it a 7 point lead with 3:21 to go.

Out of a Celtics timeout, the worst case scenario happened when Boston turned the ball over for an easy Anunoby dunk and Tatum going down holding his foot in immense pain and couldn’t put any weight on it as he was lifted off the floor.

The series shifts back to TD Garden for Game 5 on Wednesday May 14th and with the Celtics season on the line, it will be the biggest of the series.